5. Imp. Youngling; used only by Armado, Holofernes,
and Pistol. The word originally meant an offshoot or scion of a tree; thence, figuratively, offspring or child; finally becoming limited to a young devil. Johnson remarks that Lord Cromwell, in his last letter to Henry VIII., prays for the imp his son. Spenser in the prologue to F. Q. addresses Cupid as

"most dreaded impe of highest Jove,
Faire Venus sonne"

Cf. F. Q. iii. 5. 53:

"Fayre ympes of beauty, whose bright shining beames
Adorne the world with like to heavenly light," etc

52. The dancing horse. A famous horse of the time, often called
"Bankes' horse" from his owner, who had trained him to perform many remarkable feats. Raleigh, in his Hist. of the World, says: "If Banks had lived in older times, he would have shamed all the inchanters in the
world; for whosoever was most famous among them could never master or instruct any beast as he did his horse." Steevens quotes, among other allusions to the animal, B. J[onson]., Every Man Out of His Humour: "He
keeps more ado with this monster than ever Bankes did with his horse;" and the same author's Epigrams:

In France, according to Bishop Morton, Bankes "was brought into suspition of magicke, because of the strange feates which his horse Morocco plaied at Orieance;" but Bankes having made the beast kneel down to
a crucifix and kiss it, "his adversaries rested satisfied, conceiving (as it
might seeme) that the divell had no power to come neare the crosse."
In Rome he was less fortunate, if we may believe Reed, who says that
both horse and owner were there burned by order of the Pope. According to other authorities, however, Bankes came back safe to London, and was still living in King Charles's time, a jolly vintner in Cheapside. For fuller accounts of him and his horse, see Douce's Illustrations, Chambers's Book of Days, or Halliwell's folio ed.

60. Courtesy. Curtsy; used by men as well as women. See Much Ado, p. 159.

65. Sweet my child. My sweet child. See Gr. 13.

82. Green indeed is the colour of lovers. Some say, because of its association with jealousy, "the green-eyed monster;" others, as being the colour of the willow, "worn of forlorn paramours" (cf. Much Ado, p.
169).

85. A green wit. Probably, as the Camb. editors remark, there is an allusion to the green withes with which Samson was bound. See p. 128 above (on Dramatis Persons).

87. Maculate. The reading of the 1st quarto; the other early eds. have "immaculate."

103. The King and the Beggar. The ballad of King Cophetua and the
Beggar-maid, which may be found in Percy's Reliques. For other allusions to it, see iv. 1. 64 below, R. and J. ii. 1. 14, and Rich. II. v. 3. 80.

109. Digression. "Going out of the right way, transgression" (Steevens). Cf. R. of L. 202:

"Then my digression is so vile, so base,
That it will live engraven in my face."

Cf. also digressing in Rich. II. v. 3. 66.

111. Rational hind. Perhaps Armado's fantastic way of expressing
"human hind," hind being a beast (a deer), as well as a boor; but rational may be a misprint for "irrational," as Hanmer regarded it. Farmer objects to the former interpretation, that it makes Costard a female
animal; but Steevens quotes in reply J. C. i. 3. 106: "He were no lion,
were not Romans hinds."

115. A light wench. S. is fond of playing upon the different senses of
light. Cf. M. of V. v. I. 130:

"Let me give light, but let me not be light;
For a light wife doth make a heavy husband."

119. Let him. The folio reading; the 1st quarto has "suffer him to,"
and in the next line "a" for he.

121. Day-woman. Dairy-woman.

126. That's hereby. "Hereby is used by her (as among the vulgar in
some countries) to signify as it may happen; he takes it in the sense of
just by" (Steevens). We have it in the latter sense in iv. 1.9 below. The
only other instance of the word in S. is in Rich. III. i. 4. 94.

127. Situate. For the form, see Gr. 342.

130. With that face? Steevens says: "This cant phrase has oddly
lasted till the present time; and is used by people who have no more meaning annexed to it than Fielding had, who, putting it into the mouth of Beau Didapper, thinks it necessary to apologize (in a note) for its want of sense, by adding that 'it was taken verbatim from very polite conversation.'"

135. Come, Jaqnenetta, away! Given by the quartos and the folio to
"Clo. (that is, Clown, or Costard); corrected by Theo. The next speech is given by the 1st quarto to "Ar." by the 1st folio to "Clo." and by the later folios to "Con."

161. Familiar. "Familiar spirit," or demon; as in 2 Hen. VI. iv. 7. 114: "he has a familiar under his tongue," etc. Cf. also the adjective in Sonn. 86. 9:

"that affable familiar ghost
Which nightly gulls him with intelligence."

164. Butt-shaft. A kind of arrow used for shooting at butts, or targets. Cf. R. and J.. p. 171. [Also, of course, in the bawdy sense. - Sh. Online.]

166. The first and second cause, etc. Alluding to the classified causes of quarrel in the elaborate duelling science of the time. Cf. Touchstone's ridicule of them in A. Y. L. v. 4. 52 fol.; and see our ed. p. 198, note on By the book. As Saviolo's book, evidently alluded to here, was printed
in 1594, this passage is one of the indications of the revision of the play
before the publication of the 1st quarto. See p. 10 above.

171. Sonnet. The reading of all the early eds. changed by Hanmer to "sonneteer," by Capell to "sonneter," by the Coll. MS. to "sonnet-maker," and by D. to "sonnetist." V. and W. read "turn sonnets." Turn sonnet is not unlike Armado. Cf. Much Ado, ii. 3. 21: "now is he turned orthography;" where some read "orthographer" or "orthographist."

Shakespeare's Theatres: Blackfriars

Blackfriars was the premier playhouse in all of Shakespeare's London. The price for admission was up to five times that of the Globe, and it seated about seven hundred people in a paved auditorium. It was equipped with artificial lighting and other amenities that the other playhouses did not possess, but overall it quite closely resembled the public theatres with its trap doors, superstructure of huts (with wires and belts to hang props and lower actors), inner stage, and tiring house. Read on...

A Look at Metaphors ... "Metaphors are of two kinds, viz. Radical, when a word or root of some general meaning is employed with reference to diverse objects on account of an idea of some similarity between them, just as the adjective 'dull' is used with reference to light, edged tools, polished surfaces, colours, sounds, pains, wits, and social functions; and Poetical, where a word of specialized use in a certain context is used in another context in which it is literally inappropriate, through some similarity in function or relation, as 'the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune', where 'slings' and 'arrows', words of specialized meaning in the context of ballistics, are transferred to a context of fortune." Percival Vivian. Read on...